Robert K Braggs is the creator and creative voice behind Acufocal, “a site dedicated to fashion, style and photography with a particular interest in portraiture and fashion photography.”

You can find out more about Acufocal or follow his much-loved “portrait of the day” feature by visiting the Acufocal website and Facebook Page.

Few love stories start with impulse purchases off of eBay, but this one does. I drunkenly purchased a DSLR on a whim one cold night, primarily out of boredom. A week later I was eagerly looking at the world through a viewfinder, whether I had my camera with me or not.

Finding 500px was one of the fundamental reasons that my love for photography became more specialized. The quality of images was (and is) astounding, and it wasn’t long before I was spending at least an hour a day browsing portraits. It started as a passion I indulged and ended up as an obsession I obeyed. My addiction quickly grew and I became frustrated. I couldn’t find one place with behind-the-scenes videos of photo shoots, articles on portraiture and interviews with portrait photographers to run parallel with 500px’s wealth of great images; so I made one.

Acufocal is a website dedicated to fashion photography and portraiture and I’ve seen its traffic steadily but surely grow, which tells me that I’m not alone in my obsession for portraits. One of the most popular aspects of Acufocal is my ‘portrait of the day’ of which there have now been well over 600. Every one of these images has been taken from 500px photographers and so after speaking with 500px, I’ve decided to do my all-time top 20. I should add, these are in no particular order.

Texture, texture, texture! This image is so perfectly lit and processed that you can clearly imagine the feel of his skin. Great texture in a portrait is something that tends to hold the attention of the audience.

A portrait with character is very desirable but it can be a confusing element to know how to implement it in to your image. If I ever need an example of character in a portrait, however, this is my go-to image.

Depth of field can be a tricky beast but when it’s very narrow it can be so alluring. I suspect this image is f/1.2 or f/1.4 and out of the entire frame only her right eye and a few strands of hair are in focus, yet it just works; it’s beautiful.

This portrait makes the list as much for the incredible make-up artist(s) and hair stylist(s) as the photographer. The amount of work that went in to the creation of this image is evidently enormous and it has paid off.

I could do a top 20 of Dani Diamond images alone. Without question one of my favourite photographers. He is a master of natural light and micro expressions. Those eyes could change your mind about anything.

I’d be hard-pushed to find something I don’t like about this image! It should be creepy but instead it’s soft and vulnerable. It’s hard to use the word ‘juxtaposition’ when describing art without seeming insufferably pompous, so I won’t.

Photographers spend their careers trying to develop a ‘style’. To have people recognise a new image is yours without even checking who took it can be the mark of a top photographer and Elena has managed just that.

I could easily do another Top 20 and I suspect there will be comments or thoughts along the lines of “I can’t believe you left this image out!” Well, I can’t believe it either. Let me know though and if I do a part 2, perhaps it will feature.

I would also like to point out that I am fully aware of the subject gender bias in this top 20, but unfortunately it’s merely a reflection of the subject gender bias in portraiture.

Which is your favourite portrait? If it’s not in this list, post it in the comments!

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